For the third time in four years, a team of WSU pharmacy students has advanced to the finals in a national business plan competition.
Team members Jacqueline Eide, Iris Kim, David White and Drew Yancey – all from the class of 2009 – will be competing in October 2007 against teams from the University of Washington and the University of Buffalo for the championship title of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) business plan competition.
All three teams will give live presentations at the NCPA annual convention in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 13-17.
The three finalists were selected from a field of 32 and were announced last week at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Last year, the WSU team took first place in the NCPA competition and was treated to a conference in Aruba as well as $6,000. The prize this year includes a conference in Cancun, Mexico, as well as $6,000 to be divided between the NCPA student chapter and a dean’s fund for promoting independent pharmacy.
Linda Garrelts MacLean, chair of Pharmacotherapy, is the team’s advisor again this year and said many community pharmacists and other faculty have acted as mentors, advisors and counselors to this team. Last year’s winning team also was from the class of 2009.
The NCPA competition began in 2004 and WSU took second place that year, with 16 teams competing.